PMTEC, USARPAC Share Innovation Insights at AFCEA Hawaii Luncheon
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — Personnel from the U.S. Pacific Command (US PACOM) J7 Pacific Multi-Domain Training and Experimentation Capability (PMTEC) and U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) shared perspectives on artificial intelligence, space as a contested domain, information operations and rapid experimentation with government and industry partners during the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA)-Hawaii Luncheon Series on Sept. 8, 2026. The panel, moderated by Brent Parker, PMTEC industry engagement lead, featured Dr. Andre Stridiron, PMTEC program manager; Andy Emslie, PMTEC space integrator; Tai Prohaska, PMTEC information integrator; and Col. Jeremy Schunke, USARPAC director of concepts. Their insights illustrated how PMTEC’s experimentation pipeline, information integration, and space-domain initiatives contribute to modernization, building a more agile, lethal, and resilient force.
AI Transforming Training and Rehearsal Stridiron opened the discussion, by describing how PMTEC integrated AI during exercise Valiant Shield 26 to replicate opposing forces at a scale and speed far beyond the capacity of human operators. “In the past, one person could maybe replicate two or three entities in a synthetic environment,” Stridiron said. “In Valiant Shield 26, we were able to bring in AI tools that are informed by intel and can not only react and respond at scale and at scope, but also in real time to the blue force reactions. “What that’s doing is increasing the fidelity of training, increasing the scope and scale, and the realism of what our warfighters are now preparing for.”
Stridiron emphasized the need to train the entire kill chain — find, fix, track, target, engage and assess — rather than focusing only on the kinetic “boom” phase, and stressed interoperability across joint and coalition tools. “AI is only as good as the data,” Stridiron said. “We have to have humans in the loop.” That human factor includes trust.
“Security of high-end AI tools used for intelligence and decision-making remains a work in progress that exercises help illuminate,” Stridiron said.
Space as a Contested, Enabling Domain Emslie outlined how US PACOM leverages space capabilities for situational awareness and deterrence as U.S. Space Forces Pacific (SPACEPAC) grew from about 25 personnel in 2022 to approximately 150 today. According to Emslie, J7 funded, PMTEC operations, activities and investments (OAIs) are creating realistic training environments that integrate space into joint force planning and execution.
Those OAIs include the WestPac Space Range, which will allow forces to practice communications under simulated jamming and enable space electronic warfare against simulated adversary satellite signals — without risking real-world assets. Additional investments include automated targets equipped with emitters that can appear as various surface craft in the live-virtual-constructive environment, allowing joint and coalition forces to execute the full kill chain against electromagnetic threats before kinetic operations. Emslie said investments also include hiring personnel to strengthen exercise planning and commercial-military space integration.
“It’s a really exciting time to be part of the space community,” Emslie said. “It’s also very fertile ground for anybody that wants to get involved in helping build the space community, train space warfighters and sharpening Guardians as we move forward.”
Operating in the Information Environment Stating that the information environment is a warfighting domain, Prohaska emphasized the importance of controlling the narrative to impact knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. She cited historical and contemporary examples — from Vietnam War-era media embedding to Ukraine’s current sovereignty narrative — to illustrate how public and global opinion influence decision-making and warfighting outcomes.
“PMTEC’s very existence is a deterrence, but only if people know about it,” Prohaska said. “We are making a concentrated effort to amplify the success stories that we’re having with our allies and partners, with our industry partners, with our warfighters who are often the early adopters of technology.”
According to Prohaska, PMTEC is investing in telling stories that support themes and messages that ultimately contribute to credible deterrence. PMTEC’s information integration includes working with planners and public affairs personnel to ensure the information space is considered during exercise planning. During exercise execution, PMTEC supports U.S., ally and partner public affairs through the Combined Joint Information Bureaus, providing strategic guidance, content and access to subject matter experts to explain advanced technology, demonstrated capabilities and their strategic impacts. Many of these innovations are achieved alongside allies and partners.
“When we are training bilaterally or multi-laterally, we want to make sure that we are all on the same page, so that we speak with a unified voice,” Prohaska said. “That demonstrates interoperability with our allies and partners, which is one of our biggest asymmetric advantages.”
Forward Experimentation and Operational Capability Innovation Schunke described a campaign level process, PIPELINE, that begins with key operational problems drawn from the threat, emerging technology or commander guidance, moves through future-oriented war games, requirements roundups, and then into experimentation. PMTEC funding enables the critical middle step of testing solutions against real operational gaps.
Recent successes include the Battlefield Assisted Trauma Distributed Observation Kit–Joint (BATDOK-J), which captures tactical combat casualty care data at the point of injury, routes it through successive echelons of care, and populates permanent medical records. Iterative PMTEC-supported experimentation culminated during exercise Balikatan 26 and is now on a path to program-of-record status for joint medical operations. “Experiment needs to be one of three things,” Schunke said. “[One,] success, we scale. [Two,] if there can be a tweak to it, we modify, or … [three], we stop and we don’t continue. Those are those hard decisions that we have to make.”
Schunke said the culture of innovation already exists among Soldiers, industry and academia; the challenge is the “connective tissue” — clearly communicating operational problems rather than developing shopping lists.
Aligning with Department Innovation Transformation The panel’s themes advanced the Secretary of War’s January 2026 memorandum, “Transforming the Defense Innovation Ecosystem to Accelerate Warfighting Advantage.” That directive organizes efforts around three outcomes — technology innovation, product innovation and operational capability innovation — and demands delivery at the speed of relevance with clear accountability.
According to the panel, PMTEC operationalizes the third outcome — operational capability innovation — by combining technologies, tactics and doctrine into new ways of fighting at the forward edge. Its live-virtual-constructive architecture, AI-enabled opposing forces, space range investments, information-domain amplification and service-linked demonstrations equip portfolio acquisition executives and program offices with the last-mile insertion pathways.
Industry engagement through problem-driven and product-driven channels, term-limited talent rotation principles, and rigorous go/modify/stop decisions mirror the memo’s emphasis on mission command, measurable outcomes and termination of efforts that no longer justify perseverance. Industry leaders attending the event acknowledged PMTEC’s role in bridging commercial technological advancement directly to the operational force.
“PMTEC is paramount — it is the glue between industry and the military services out here,” said Maurice Anstead, business development director for Peraton. “It provides a clear path for industry to bring the best of capability and get that into the experimentation cycle. In the past, the question was: How do we get these great capabilities into the hands of the warfighter? PMTEC is that mechanism to bring innovative ideas to the warfighter today.”
About PMTEC Established in 2022, the Pacific Multi-Domain Training and Experimentation Capability is a U.S. Pacific Command, J7enterprise that integrates live, virtual and constructive training technologies into a unified, scalable and persistent ecosystem. It links geographically dispersed ranges, resources and warfighters, enabling U.S. and allied forces to rehearse complex mission sets in realistic, threat-informed environments. PMTEC is a cornerstone of the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and directly supports National Defense Strategy priorities to defend the homeland, deter aggression and empower allies and partners.
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
